22 December 2010

Africa's Landlost ~ Powerless Farmers Displaced

"Across Africa and the developing world, a new global land rush is gobbling up large expanses of arable land. Despite their ageless traditions, stunned villagers are discovering that African governments typically own their land and have been leasing it, often at bargain prices, to private investors and foreign governments for decades to come. [...] if done equitably, could help feed the growing global population by introducing large-scale commercial farming to places without it. But others condemn the deals as neocolonial land grabs that destroy villages, uproot tens of thousands of farmers and create a volatile mass of landless poor. Making matters worse, they contend, much of the food is bound for wealthier nations. [...] many investments appear to be pure speculation that leaves land fallow, the report found. Farmers have been displaced without compensation, land has been leased well below value, those evicted end up encroaching on parkland and the new ventures have created far fewer jobs than promised, it said. The breathtaking scope of some deals galvanizes opponents..."

While I can certainly appreciate that there are under-used swathes of land and that smallholder farming can be quite inefficient, the outright theft of land without proper compensation is unconscionable. We need percapita participation in the upside too. See the special report...